No, not Don Mattingly, but it might involve baseball bats.

No, not Don Quixote, but there may be some insanity.

It’s a little bit of both worlds, it’s Don Mode for Godfather II, a free downloadable patch available the day the game is released, that will give players the Don Control multiplayer mode. You’ll have two players as opposing Don’s able to recruit other players and wage war on each other, with their single player in-game currency on the table.  A few things that bug me about this are:

1. Why a patch on the first day of release?
2. Everyone will want to be playing as the Don.

But overall it sounds like a nice twist tying the multiplayer and single player campaign together and throwing a bit of strategy into open-world chaos.  Press release is beyond the jump.

March 13, 2009 – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced that a new multiplayer mode, called Don Control, will be coming to The Godfather® II game. This new mode will be available as a free downloadable* patch right when the game releases on April 7th in North America and April 10th in Europe. Don Control takes the “Think Like a Don” strategic gameplay into an online environment and allows players to build a family, command them in battle and view the action from a bird’s eye view above.

Don Control introduces an additional layer of gameplay on top of the four multiplayer modes and six maps already available in the game and invites players to compete to see who is the ultimate Don of Dons. Players can now challenge one another in 16-player battles for their in-game currency from the single-player game. As a Don online, players can recruit others to join their family by giving them a cut of the profits. But if a player loses as Don, the in-game currency they wagered will be removed in their single-player campaign and their empire can come crumbling down.

The Godfather II takes the open-world genre in an entirely new direction by blending the furious combat of being a mobster with the strategic thinking of being a Don both offline and online. As a Don in the Corleone family, The Godfather II lets the player carve out their own story of deception, betrayal, and conquest in a 1960’s organized crime world. Players will have to build and invest in their family, command their crew, and manage their family business, all of which is done through the revolutionary Don’s View. The Don’s View is a 3D representation of the player’s criminal empire, putting the player in the Don’s mindset; it allows them to coordinate their strategy, plan hits on rival made men, attack enemy rackets, and much more.

The Godfather II game from Electronic Arts and Paramount Digital Entertainment will be available on the Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, and PC. The game has been rated M for Mature by the ESRB and 18+ for PEGI. Players who pre-order The Godfather II at participating retailers worldwide will receive an exclusive crew member, named Tommy Cipolla, to hire into their family.